Redmi 14C Review: The new budget phone king

Budget phones are often thought of as beginner-friendly smartphones that can basically let users dip their toes in smartphone waters without spending a bomb. While these are important smartphones and sell in large numbers, they are often considered stepping stones that would simply be replaced with a much better, more power-packed device. This is why when people hear of budget phones, compromises are the first thing that comes to their mind.

Design, power, cameras… all are areas where smartphone brands cut corners to keep prices low, and this inevitably affects the performance and perception of budget phones. Redmi is looking to change that with its latest budget phone, the Redmi 14C 5G (henceforth referred to as “Redmi 14C” for the sake of simplicity), which starts at Rs 9,999. Can it succeed?

Redmi 14C 5G Design: A budget phone that looks premium? It is possible!

Design is the first area that gets compromised when a phone hails from the budget segment. You never really imagine a phone that costs below Rs.10,000 to be a looker. But the Redmi 14C is not your usual budget smartphone. The phone comes with looks that can easily make folks believe that it is a more expensive and even premium device. The credit for this goes to its starry, glittery back. We got the Star Light Blue variant, which has a plastic back, but the other two color options, Stargaze Black and Stardust Purple, look equally good and bring premium glass backs, which is very impressive at this price point. As the names of the color variants would suggest, the Redmi 14C’s design inspiration comes from outer space. And the back, laden with tiny sparkles, gives the impression of stars, making the phone fit right into the theme.

To keep up with the day’s design trends, Redmi added a huge, slightly protruding circular camera unit on the back, which has four tiny circles within it. While one of these carries the main sensor and another an auxiliary lens, the other two that give the impression of being cameras actually are a flash and ‘50 MP AI camera’ branding – an illusion that also adds to the premium look of the phone. The blue color is not just blue. It has an ombre effect where the top is silver, and the color deepens into dark blue as you move toward the base of the back, which has Redmi 5G branding. The frame is plastic but has a metallic finish in the same shade of blue. The base of the phone carries the loudspeaker and USB type C port, while the top holds a 3.5 mm audio jack. The left side is home to the SIM and microSD card tray, while the right side has the volume rocker and the power/lock button, which doubles up as the fingerprint scanner.

The face of the phone is quite regular – a huge display, surrounded by bezels that would be considered ‘thick’ by modern standards, and with a water drop notch, which is also an old design touch. The Redmi 14C is a huge phone at 171.9 mm tall, and you would find it difficult to get it into your jeans pocket without some part of it poking out, but it is relatively slim at 8.2 mm and weighs a little over 200 grams (205 to be precise), which is rather light for its size. It has no gorilla glass protection but seems sturdy enough and has IP52 dust and water resistance, which should keep it safe from splashes of water.

Redmi 14C 5G Specs and Performance: A very capable everyday phone

This being a Redmi phone, you get competitive specs for the price, even in a budget device. And this translates into good performance as well. The phone is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 processor, which is not only a very capable chipset but is also generally seen at higher price points. This was paired with 6 GB RAM and 128 GB storage, which can be expanded using a microSD card (the phone has a dedicated slot, so you will not have to compromise one of your networks for it) in our unit. This combination makes the phone a very good daily driver.

It moved through our everyday chores with ease. We did face an odd lag and app crash here and there, but that was a once-in-a-blue-moon occurrence. Other than that, the phone basically glided through our everyday smartphone tasks without any hiccups. You can doomscroll on social media, text endlessly, browse the web, and jump from casual games to binge-watching your favorite content – the phone will hang in with you without hanging or struggling. The phone is not meant for high-end titles, so we would suggest you maintain an arm’s distance from them, but if casual games can fix your gaming itch, the Redmi 14C will match your steps regardless of whether you are trying to run from the police in Subway Surfer or just trying to crack levels in Candy Crush.

The huge 6.88-inch IPS LCD display with HD+ resolution and high refresh rate of 120 Hz is a major plus, and when paired with a speaker that is quite loud and a 3.5 mm audio jack, makes the Redmi 14C a great multimedia device. The high refresh rate also makes it a great base for web browsing and Instagram scrolling. It is an LCD display, so the colors are not as punchy, and the blacks do not seem as deep as on an AMOLED one, but in no way do the colors feel washed out, and at this price point, we are very happy with that. And while some might have expected a

The side-mounted fingerprint scanner takes a fraction of a second to unlock the phone, and there is face unlock (warning: not secure) and good old passwords to protect your privacy, too.

5G worked very well on the device, and we did not face any call drop issues during our review. Our only complaint here is that the phone misses out on a Redmi staple, IR blaster. It is a feature that you do not realize you need unless you actually need it (like when you misplace the TV remote), and we definitely missed its presence on the phone.

Redmi 14C 5G Camera: Mainly about the main sensor

The Redmi 14C comes with a 50-megapixel main sensor paired with an auxiliary lens. This essentially means there is only one camera on the device’s back (do not get fooled by the four black circles on the back. They are strictly for aesthetics). That said, the 50-megapixel sensor does a good job in well-lit conditions. You can capture a decent amount of detail with colors that seem just a tad bit saturated but never too far off from the real setting.

The quality of the photos dips in low light, with both color and details taking a hit, but you still end up with photos you can use on most attempts. The phone has a dedicated Night mode, which makes a difference, but the change isn’t monumental. The Portrait mode is surprisingly impressive and takes good portraits with deep bokeh, although it misses a few edges sometimes. The phone captures video at 1080p and 30fps maximum, and the video quality is good, but do not expect anything mind-blowing here.

The cameras are accompanied by a very comprehensive camera app that allows us to tweak settings and even make changes right before taking a snap. You get 2x digital zoom, which compromises the details a bit but gets you a step closer to the subject without hassle. You also get the option to take a 50-megapixel photo right from the app, which is handy. There are filters, different modes, and settings, and the Google Lens feature is also present in the camera app itself. The phone has an 8-megapixel selfie snapper, which takes average selfies at best. Even with the beauty mode off (it is turned on by default), you get beautified selfies with little to no skin textures and colors that seem a bit washed out. They can be used for social media purposes, but that’s about it.

Redmi 14C 5G Battery and OS: Impressive battery, unimpressive OS

The battery is a definite USP of the Redmi 14C. The phone has a 5,160 mAh battery, which is impressive given the slim figure of the phone. It comes with 18W charging support, but the brand has generously paired a faster 33W charger with the phone in the box. It charges the phone at 18W, but it can also be used with other devices (33W is good enough to charge some notebooks). The battery easily lasts a full day even if you push the phone (perhaps due to the ‘not-so-full-HD-LCD’ display). Use it more carefully, and you can get much more out of it. The 18W charging support is slow, and the phone takes about an hour and a half to charge completely.

A pain point of the Redmi 14C’s spec sheet is the Android version it runs on. The phone ships with Android 14 out of the box, which is a major disappointment, given that Android 15 has been out for a while. The brand promises two years of major Android updates, but given that one of them is likely to be Android 15, you only get one real update on the device. The phone comes with Xiaomi’s HyperOS interface, which is quite loaded without being overwhelming. HyperOS brings a lot of functionality and features to the table, which comes in quite handy in day-to-day use. You get a number of third-party apps on the phone, but they can all be easily removed.

Redmi 14C Review Verdict: A great budget daily driver, which does not look budget at all!

The Redmi 14C 5G comes in three RAM and storage versions – 4 GB/ 64 GB for Rs. 9,999, 4 GB/ 128 GB for Rs. 10,999, and 6 GB/ 128 GB at Rs. 11,999. While there are other phones in that price range, such as the Moto G45, which comes with a battery processor and cameras, and the iQOO Z9x, which has faster charging, a bigger battery, and even an IP64 rating, they are not the complete packages that the Redmi 14C 5G is.

The phone brings a very strong spec sheet, is a very capable everyday device, and comes with a design that makes it look more premium than its actual price. If you are looking for a phone that does everything well and not just one thing exceptionally well and looks darned good, too, the Redmi 14C is the device you should get. The budget phone segment has a new king. One that looks premium.

Buy Redmi 14C 5G